Calcium and Weight Loss

Youíve been skipping dessert and hitting the gym for months, and still havenít dropped those last five kilograms? Changes are youíre one of the 75% of women who fall short of the recommended 1000mg of calcium daily.

A study in the British Journal of Nutrition suggests that not getting enough of this mineral may make it harder to take the weight off. When researchers put overweight, calcium-deficient women on a low-kilojoule diet, they found that those who took a 1200mg calcium supplement daily shed five more kilograms in four months than those who continued to get less than 800mg a day.

Researchers say calcium may regulate the secretion of leptin, a hormone that controls appetite.